The Nauvoo charter stated that the “Chancellor and Regents of the University of the City of Nauvoo . . . shall have full power to pass, ordain, establish and execute all such laws and ordinances as they may consider necessary for the welfare and prosperity of said University, its officers, and students; Provided, that the said laws and ordinances shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

This letter to JS is apparently not extant, but Bennett referred to it in several letters he wrote in July 1840. In his 25 July letter, he wrote: “The last time I wrote you was during the pendency of your difficulties with the Missourians. you are aware that at that time I held the office of ‘Brigadier General of the Invincible Dragoons’ of this state and proffered you my entire energies for your deliverance from a ruthless and savage, tho. cowardly foe; but the Lord came to your rescue and saved you with a powerful arm.” (Letter from John C. Bennett, 25 July 1840, underlining in original; see also Letters from John C. Bennett, 27 and 30 July 1840.)

There is no record that Bennett helped the Saints before they arrived in Illinois, although he expressed his desire to do so in the nonextant letter previously mentioned.

An October 1840 general conference selected Bennett, JS, and Robert B. Thompson as a committee to draft the document that would become the Nauvoo charter. Additionally, Bennett was “appointed delegate to Springfield, to urge the passage of said bill through the legislature.” He subsequently lobbied in Springfield leading up to the November and December deliberations of the Twelfth Illinois General Assembly. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Ford, History of Illinois, 263.)

Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

See Matthew 25:35.

Galland sold his home and land on the Nauvoo peninsula on 30 April 1839. For a time after the sale, Sidney Rigdon and his family lived in Galland’s house. According to Rigdon’s son John Wickliff Rigdon, it was “a beautiful place on the banks of the river a stone house and nicely shaded with locus trees and considerable land lying back it on the flats.” (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Rigdon, “Life Story of Sidney Rigdon,” 158.)

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Rigdon, John Wickliff. “Life Story of Sidney Rigdon,” no date. CHL. MS 3451.

This passage refers to the sale of Galland’s land on the Nauvoo peninsula, for which he was to receive $18,000 over a twenty-year period. At the end of January 1841, church agents responsible for buying and selling land in Nauvoo created a report noting that this amount had been paid in full, apparently through land exchanges, as noted here. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Report of Agents, ca. 30 Jan. 1841.)

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

A reference to nearly eighteen thousand acres of the Half-Breed Tract that the Saints purchased from Galland. Contrary to this report, Galland sold the land for approximately $50,000. (Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 276.)

Cook, Lyndon W. “Isaac Galland—Mormon Benefactor.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 261–284.

In 1837 and 1838, Galland was involved in publishing the Western Adventurer, a newspaper based in Montrose, Iowa Territory. Galland’s Iowa Emigrant, a guidebook on Iowa Territory’s history, landscape, and wildlife, was published in 1840 as Galland’s Iowa Emigrant: Containing a Map, and General Descriptions of Iowa Territory (Chillicothe, OH: William C. Jones, 1840). (Galland’s Iowa Emigrant, iii–iv.)

Galland, Isaac. Galland’s Iowa Emigrant: Containing a Map, and General Descriptions of Iowa Territory. Chillicothe, OH: Wm. C. Jones, 1840.

JS baptized Galland on 3 July 1839 in Commerce, Illinois. (JS, Journal, 3 July 1839.)

Hebrews 11:25.

Adams had served in the New York state militia, obtaining the rank of brigadier general in 1818. JS first met Adams on 4 November 1839 in Springfield, where Adams was working as a probate judge. Five days later, Adams wrote a letter of introduction for JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Elias Higbee to President Martin Van Buren. It is unclear when Adams was baptized, but he had clearly joined the church before this proclamation was written. (Black, “James Adams of Springfield, Illinois,” 34, 38; JS History, vol. C-1, 972; Letter of Introduction from James Adams, 9 Nov. 1839.)

Black, Susan Easton. “James Adams of Springfield, Illinois: The Link between Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith.” Mormon Historical Studies 10, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 33–49.

Foster was baptized before 5 October 1839. (Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839.)

Knowlton was baptized—likely by John E. Page—near Carthage, Illinois, in early 1840. Page wrote, “Br. Knowlton is one of the first citizens of Hancock co. and ranks with the first class of scientific Farmers.” (Report, Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:61.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Knight was baptized in 1839. Heber C. Kimball described him as a “verry eminet fasition [physician], a m[an] of great weth [wealth].” (Almon Babbitt, Pleasant Garden, IN, 18 Oct. 1839, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:27; Heber C. Kimball, Pleasant Garden, IN, to Vilate Murray Kimball, 24 Oct. 1839, photocopy, Heber C. Kimball, Correspondence, 1837–1864, CHL; Cady, Indiana Annual Register, 136.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Heber C. Kimball Family Organization. Compilation of Heber C. Kimball Correspondence, 1983. Unpublished typescript. CHL.

Cady, C. W. The Indiana Annual Register and Pocket Manual, Revised and Corrected for the Year 1846. . . . Indianapolis: Samuel Turner, 1846.